Conclusions
Transplantation of NSCs that were cultured in an alginate scaffold led to a better clinical and histological outcome for recovery from spinal cord injury in a rat model.
Methods
The NSCs were isolated from 14-day-old rat embryos. The isolated NSCs were cultured in growth media containing basic fibroblast growth factor and endothelial growth factor. The cells were characterized by differentiating to three neural lineages and they were cultured in an alginate scaffold. After 7 days the cells were encapsulated and transplanted in a rat model of spinal cord injury.
Purpose
The aim of this study was to discover whether NSCs cultured in alginate transplantation improve recovery from spinal cord injury. Overview of literature: Spinal cord injury is one of the leading causes of disability and it has no effective treatment. Spinal cord injury can also cause sensory impairment. With an impetus on using stem cells therapy in various central nervous system settings, there is an interest in using stem cells for addressing spinal cord injury. Neural stem cell is one type of stem cells that is able to differentiate to all three neural lineages and it shows promise in spinal injury treatment. Furthermore, a number of studies have shown that culturing NSCs in three-dimensional (3D) scaffolds like alginate could enhance neural differentiation.
Results
Our data showed that culturing in an alginate 3D scaffold and transplantation of the NSCs could improve neurological outcome in a rat model of spinal cord injury. The inflammation scores and lesion sizes and also the activity of caspase-3 (for apoptosis evaluation) were less in encapsulated neural stem cell transplantation cases. Conclusions: Transplantation of NSCs that were cultured in an alginate scaffold led to a better clinical and histological outcome for recovery from spinal cord injury in a rat model.